Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

I have an Envy 14-1110NR laptop and am getting a Hard Drive failure imminent message every time I boot up. Having run the HP diagnostics, the hard drive check fails so I'm guessing I have to replace it.

The hard drive is a Samsung HM640JJ which has gone obsolete. Does anyone know what I need to do...?

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

09-11-201304:30 AM

Hi Stephen,

In that case, your best option maybe to create a System Image of your existing installation and store it on an external HDD - this can then be loaded on to the new drive and your machine will be in the exact same condition as it was when the image was created.

There's a good guide on creating this on the following link - start at the sub-heading 'Option One'.

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

Regarding replacing the Hard Drive, your notebook is listed as coming with a 640Gb HDD so it would make sense to replace it with a 750Gb - the drive on the link below is an example of one that would be fine for your notebook.

Also, if possible, back-up the swsetup folder that can be found at the root of your C drive.

You can create a Windows 7 installation disc yourself using another PC - just download the correct Disc Image ( this must be the same version that originally came with your notebook - this is listed as Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit ) from the link below and use an application such as ImgBurn to burn the ISO correctly to a blank DVD - a guide on using ImgBurn to write an ISO to a disc is Here. These Images are clean and from a well-respected source ( Digital River ).

Use the disc to perform the installation, enter the Windows activation key found on the COA Label when requested and when the installation has completed, use the 'Phone Method' detailed in the link below to activate the OS - this method supported by Microsoft and is popular with people who just want a clean installation of Windows 7 without the additional software load normally bundled with OEM installations.

Regarding the drivers etc you need, if you were able to back-up the swsetup this will contain all the software and driver installers for your notebook - if you weren't able to, drivers and software you may need can also be found Here.

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

I have upgraded my OS to Windows 8 and I am guessing that will change the process significantly. I've never had to do this before, so am a little concerned.

Am I able to make some kind of backup that can be run after installing the new hard drive that will whizz everything back to how it is now...? Luckily I use Skydrive for all my documents, so they are all online, but the OS reinstall and Office 365 etc could be a problem.

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

In that case, your best option maybe to create a System Image of your existing installation and store it on an external HDD - this can then be loaded on to the new drive and your machine will be in the exact same condition as it was when the image was created.

There's a good guide on creating this on the following link - start at the sub-heading 'Option One'.

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

The earlier posts were very helpful. I had the same problem with my ENVY 14. I replaced the Samsung 640GB HDD with an WD 750GB, but with difficulty. My recovery discs (all 6) loaded ok but then wouldn't go to the next step, the installation phase.

I was able to get the Envy with the old samsung disc working well enough to create an image file, and was then able to get the image file to load on to the new WD HDD. Good, the Envy is working again. But, I wasn't able to find a way to all the capacity of the new HDD. I have about 107 GB unallocated that I can't move to the C: drive, apparently because it doesn't sit adjacent to C: because there is my D: drive (recovery) in between.

Re: Envy 14 - Hard Drive failure imminent

The earlier comments were all very helpful. I too have recently received an "imminent hard drive failure" alert on the boot screen of my HP Pavilon (3 years old). Of course the computer seems to work fine most of the time but then suddenly everything might suddenly slow to a standstill. I have no idea why its performance swings so much as it does not get used for much more than a few applications.

So I researched and discovered that I probably need to replace the drive with a 750GB 2.5" SATA drive. Maybe this is just me venting a bit but it is frustrating that HP doesn't send out recovery discs for the OS when you're basically up s&*t creek when the whole HDD fails and you have nothing but an unbootable recovery partition and very few options if you don't have other means.

I have an external HDD that I have everything backed up on which is great...except that I have no way to transfer that data back to a blank HDD without first installing an OS...which is lost forever on the recovery partition of my crapped out HDD...

I was able to run the backup-transfer program and I think I have a good "disk image" or whatever. I was able to save this to my external HDD which is great. Except it doesn me no good for the same reason. HP did not send me physical backup discs for what is a relatively common, if not predictable problmen with spinning HDDs.

Thank goodness I have another PC in my house so that I can download the Windows 7 link above--thank you, that was very helpful. Also, since my home is networked, I WAS able to copy the swsetup folder to a network folder.

But seriously, HP, why would you not send someone recovery discs when you ship them a new PC with an OEM installation of Windows 7 that the customer PAID for? You should offer to ship that to your customers OVERNIGHT, at YOUR expense.